Since this is the year 2012, and there are those who predict a change for this year, let’s look at the early part of Mark and see if we can sense the positive side of that change. Mark tells us John the Baptist was in the wilderness wearing funny clothes and living on an odd diet, and all of Judea came out to be Baptized. This was not ordinary for Jews because Baptism was for gentile converts, not them. Yet they came, embracing a new meaning of an old practice, the washing clean of the past as readiness for the future. Jesus came to be baptized too, and when that happened a dove appeared announcing God’s favor. This was sign (of the beginning of the change, the new covenant) and a wonder (doves don’t usually do that), there to get our attention all these years later. The dove is peace, and may you find the force of God’s favor. Come see us at Sunset park Sunday, and we’ll all find it together.